Episode 1

1. First Discussion

Reading runs from 1:46 until 3:15.

1.1 On textile workers and luddites

We mention that textile workers were deeply affected by the industrial revolution, but we didn't name names, and there is one that is particularly important to name: the Luddites - a 19th-century movement of English textile workers who opposed very specific types of machinery. There are two things about them that are particularly interesting for us. (1) They were maligned, we often use the term 'luddite' as a pejorative, but this is far from the truth of who they are. They were technologists who developed their own tools and machinery. They weren't sentimentalists attached to the old ways, but rather they were keenly aware of the implications of the types of machines that the factory owners were pushing on them. (2) They were political activists, and had very interesting anarchist-adjacent ideas and ways of working together. See for example, podcast[1], video[2], and book[3] cited below.

1.2. On the origins of the Internet

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first computer networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical foundation of the Internet. The ARPANET was established by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (now DARPA) of the United States Department of Defense[4].

1.3. On the origins of mobile phones

We raised a question about the date of the first mobile phone. Motorola was the first company to produce a handheld mobile phone. On 3 April 1973, Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher and executive, made the first mobile telephone call from handheld subscriber equipment, placing a call to Dr. Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs, his rival.[5]

1.4. On the status of the Internet in 1982

ARPANET was established by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (now DARPA) of the United States Department of Defense in 1969, and it was the first implement key technologies that laid the foundations for the internet. By the late 1970s, people who worked with computers were using Email, Bulletin Board Systems, and Usenet to communicate over the internet. By the time Ivan Illich gives this lecture, people were also able to connect to the internet with a modem and a home computer, though it was still quite novel and rare.

1.5. On tools for conviviality

Tools for Conviviality is a 1973 book by Ivan Illich that examines how technology serves society, and specifically who it serves. He uses the term convivivial to refer to tools that "serve politically interrelated individuals rather than managers"[6].

References

1. Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff (Mar. 2024). All Hail King Ludd: Howthe Luddites Almost Saved Us. Cool Zone Media. url: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cool-people-who-did-cool-96003360/episode/part-one-all-hail-king-ludd-159850054/.
2. Andrewism (Jan. 2024). Should We Be Luddites? url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP2rObVK1zg.
3. Merchant, Brian (2023). Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. Little, Brown. isbn: 9780316487733.
4. Internet, Living (2021). ARPANET – The First Internet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET. Quote from Wikipedia, retrieved 2024-06-11.
5. Motorola (Apr. 1979). Motorola Demonstrates Portable Telephone. Motorola Communications Division press release. Quote from Wikipedia, retrieved 2024-06-11.
6. Illich, Ivan (1973). Tools for Conviviality. Open Forum. Harper & Row. isbn: 9780060803087. PDF

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2. Second Discussion

Reading runs from 15:34 to 17:13

2.1. On Murray Bookchin

Murray Bookchin (born January 14, 1921, Bronx, New York, U.S.—died July 30, 2006, Burlington, Vermont) was an activist and intellectual who was well-known and loved in anarchist circles. Among his many contributions is the philosophy of social ecology, which seeks to place human societies within the framework of the natural environment, rather than in opposition to it, and points specifically to hierarchy and domination as root causes of both ethical and environmental degradation. His theories inspired the development of Democratic Confederalism, the political system that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has been implementing in Rojava since 2012.

Writings by Murray Bookchin are freely available at the anarchist library.

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3. Third Discussion

Reading runs from 29:26 to 33:15

3.1. On Bullshit Jobs

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory is a 2018 book by anthropologist David Graeber that postulates the existence of meaningless jobs and analyzes their societal harm. He contends that over half of societal work is pointless and becomes psychologically destructive when paired with a work ethic that associates work with self-worth. Graeber describes five types of meaningless jobs, in which workers pretend their role is not as pointless or harmful as they know it to be: flunkies, goons, duct tapers, box tickers, and taskmasters. He argues that the association of labor with virtuous suffering is recent in human history and proposes unions and universal basic income as a potential solution[1].

3.2. On the free and open source movement

Open-source hardware (OSH, OSHW) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and apply a like concept to a variety of components. It is sometimes, thus, referred to as FOSH (free and open-source hardware). The term usually means that information about the hardware is easily discerned so that others can make it – coupling it closely to the maker movement[2].

3.3. More Graeber stanning

Debt: The First 5,000 Years is a book by anthropologist David Graeber published in 2011. It explores the historical relationship of debt with social institutions such as barter, marriage, friendship, slavery, law, religion, war and government. It draws on the history and anthropology of a number of civilizations, large and small, from the first known records of debt from Sumer in 3500 BCE until the present[3].

Writings by David Graeber are freely available at the anarchist library.

3.4. Usufruct

Usufruct is a limited real right (or in rem right) found in civil law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of usus and fructus. Usus (use, as in usage of or access to) is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, directly and without altering it. Fructus (fruit, as in the fruits of production) is the right to derive profit from a thing possessed: for instance, by selling crops, leasing immovables or annexed movables, taxing for entry, and so on. A usufruct is either granted in severalty or held in common ownership, as long as the property is not damaged or destroyed. The third civilian property interest is abusus (literally abuse), the right to alienate the thing possessed, either by consuming or destroying it (e.g., for profit), or by transferring it to someone else (e.g., sale, exchange, gift). Someone enjoying all three rights has full ownership [4].

3.5. The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia

The Dispossessed is a 1974 science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, one of her seven Hainish Cycle novels. It achieved a degree of literary recognition unusual for science fiction due to its exploration of themes such as anarchism and revolutionary societies, capitalism, utopia, individualism, and collectivism. It paints a clear portrait of what an Anarchist society could look like, after a revolution in which the anarchists were allowed to escape to a desolate moon-planet, Anarres. The ambiguity of the situation is what makes this depiction particularly compelling. The living conditions are harsh on Anarres, but everyone shares the burden equally. The upper class people on Urras clearly have a better life than the intellectuals on Anarres, but Le Guin makes a strong case that the people of Anarres are living fuller, more authentically human lives in many respects [5].

3.6. Beyond Human Rights

"Beyond human rights" and Homo Sacer are two texts from philosopher Giorgio Agamben. The premise is that what we hold as 'Human Rights' cannot be protected under the current system of nation-states. He points to the refugee as one such figure that exposes the contradiction: the notion of human rights is intended to protect figures such as the refugee, but in practice they are excluded from its purview [6, 7].

References

1. Graeber, David. 2018 Bullshit Jobs. New York; London; Toronto; Sydney; New Delhi: Simon & Schuster. isbn: 978-1-5011-4331-1.
2. Gibb, Alicia, ed. (2015). Building Open Source Hardware: DIY Manufacturing for Hackers and Makers. Quote from Wikipedia, retrieved 2024-06-11. New York: Addison-Wesley, pp. 253–277.
3. Graeber, David (2011). Debt: The First 5,000 Years. Quote from Wikipedia, retrieved 2024-06-11. Melville House. isbn: 1612190987, 9781612190983.
4. Wikipedia contributors (2024). Usufruct — Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
5. Guin, Ursula K. Le (1974). The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia. New York: Harper & Row.
6. Agamben, Giorgio (1998). Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Trans. by Daniel Heller-Roazen. Stanford: Stanford University Press
7. Agamben, Giorgio. (2008) "Beyond Human rights" Open, special issue on Social Engineering. No. 15, pages 90-95.

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1. First Discussion

Reading runs from 0:45 until 2:41.

1.1 Economics is bullshit

In his books Debt and Dawn of Everything, David Graeber deconstructs the myth of barter, convincingly arguing that the origin of money did not come from the exchange of goods on a market but from the state’s need to efficiently feed a geographically distributed army, and he provides compelling examples of how humans have organized themselves throughout history without applying any of the assumed conventions of contemporary economics. [1, 2]

1.2 Andrewism stanning

In the video “Anti-Capitalism” is Capitalist, Andrew says the phrase “capitalism ain’t the only beast we battling”, I do not know if he took it somewhere else. In the video, Andrew makes a critique of passive anti-capitalism.

1.3 Intersectionality

We reference the term intersectionality, coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989

1.4 Non-discrete class analysis

We note that the typical leftist framework does not model different levels of complicity in class collaboration. For example, many nominally working class people own some small amount of shares of capitalist industries through retirement or banking. Some play with investment instruments such as the Robin Hood app, or rent rooms. We speculate that this could make it easier for the worker to identify with the capitalist than to take a stance of class solidarity. During the recording, we posted this idea as food for thought on Mastodon. We are interested in your thoughts on this.

References

1. Graeber, David (2011). Debt : The First 5,000 Years. Melville House. ISBN : 9781612190983. URL.
2. Graeber, David (2021). The Dawn of Everything : A New History of Humanity. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN : 9780374721107. URL.

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2. Second Discussion

Reading runs from 14:42 until 20:51.

2.1 Desire paths

Here is the meme mentioned showcasing desire paths :

2.2 Economic Development in Latin America

In an address to the Conference on InterAmerican Student Projects (CIASP) in Cuernavaca, Mexico, on April 20, 1968, Ivan Illich is very clear about his view of US imposed development projects in Latin America. [3] Even projects that are sold to the US populace as ‘humanitarian’, such as the Peace Corps, exploits their resources and rebuilds their society so that it ultimately benefits Capitalist interests.

2.3 On Capitalist Commodity Fetish

Capitalism creates psychological needs for us. For more about this mechanism, see for example, the Adam Curtis documentary “Century of the Self”, which can be found on YouTube.

References

3. Illich, Ivan (Apr. 1968). To Hell with Good Intentions. CIASP.

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Third Discussion

Reading runs from 32:42 until 34:45.

3.1 Antiwork

We question the idea that humans should be reduced to their output in productive labor. There are many ways in which humans labor that is not valued in our society. For example, the labor of maintenance, the labor of care giving, and to a large extent creative labor. People want to work, but they don’t want to work in subordination to others. See r/antiwork FAQ and library for more information on the antiwork movement.

3.2 On Cynicism and Anarchism

Cynics postulate that one should reject wealth, which is somewhat compatible with anti-consumerism common among anarchists, they were cosmopolitan - same as anarchists and they postulated to live a shameless life, which we can consider as similar to cultural liberation that is a big part of anarchism.

3.3 Challenges to Confronting the Current System

The failure of Marxist-Leninist states is that they ultimately became state capitalists as they tried to beat the capitalists at their own game. Anarchism takes a unified ends and means approach, which demands that principles are never compromised. Because anarchists don’t believe that you can exploit workers during the revolution to counter the counter-revolution the question is - how are they supposed to win against an opponent who is willing to be ruthless ?

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1. First Discussion

Reading runs from 1:13 to 4:29

1.1 On the technologies of plate armour and guns

Michael argues here that plate armour, while appearing defensive, was actually an oppressive technology, in that knights in plated armour rendered the peasants defenseless. Michael argues that in this context, guns were a liberatory technology because they broke the tyranny of the plated armoured knights. Michael’s sources :

• r/AskHistorians
• History Stack Exchange : Why was metal armor phased out after gun powder was weaponized

1.2 On Cybernetics and GST

Cybernetic is a transdisciplinary field of study concerned with various systems of controls, most notable those with feedback loops. With it’s strong characterization of self-organising systems, it can be a useful tool to think about anarchist organisation. A systems theory approach to anarchism was also used by Anark in his latest series : A modern Anarchism. Here is the link to a transcript in addition to some introductory texts on cybernetic and general systems theory. :

• A Modern Anarchism
• An Introduction to Cybernetics
• Thinking in systems
• Anarchist Cybernetics
• Designing Freedom

1.3 On the Social Credit system

The Social Credit System is used as a system of control in China.

The Black Mirror episode Nosedive explores a dystopian world that ranks its citizens according to a social credit system mediated by some kind social media app.

2. Second Discussion

Reading runs from 19:59 to 21:03

2.1 Some evidence against the myths propped up by capitalism

Here is the paper cited that deconstructs the myth that extreme poverty was a human condition that was improved by capitalism. Instead of using the metric of ‘income’, it uses the notion of “access to essential goods” to quantify living conditions. The findings are that capitalism worsened the quality of life, and only saw improvements after the social movements of the 19th century.

• Dylan Sullivan, Jason Hickel, Capitalism and extreme poverty: A global analysis of real wages, human height, and mortality since the long 16th century (DOI).

2.2 More on Michael’s tangent about Guano and Imperialism

• Wikipedia : Guano Islands Act

2.3 Permanent revolution

• There really is not point at which we will be able to say - yay, all oppression is dead, hurray, and stop fighting against it. If we ever win against hierarchy but then get complacent it will probably start slowly recreating in various places. For this reason, we can only think of revolution as a continuous process of betterment of social dynamics. The revolution already started, but it won’t finish anytime soon. (This idea is adjacent but not identical to Trotsky’s permanent revolution)

2.4 On Liberatory AI

Michael had some thoughts about how decentralizing computing could liberate AI for the masses. One example he cites of decentralized cloud computing is the [compute for science (https://boinc.berkeley.edu/) project at Berkeley.

2.5 Some Chomsky stanning

Here is a link to a non-paywalled version of the New York Times article where Chomsky and colleagues explain key differences between how Large Language Models (such as chatGPT) process information, and how the human mind processes information.

3. Third Discussion

Reading runs from 51:49 to 53:01

3.2 On ACAB

ACAB is a systemic critique, not one aimed at individuals, but one aimed at a system that uses violence to protect property rights over human rights. The problem with policing is that its fundamental function is not to protect humanity, but to defend property rights. It is a violent apparatus that upholds the private property system.

3.3 On police origins

We refer the listener to this episode of Througline : American Police for some historical background on the origins of police.

3.4 On the function of police

The court precedent that rules that police are under no obligation to serve and protect citizens is Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales We refer the reader to the Radio Lab episode No Special Duty to learn more about the legal parameters around policing.

3.5 On Vagrants

Vagrancy, in most western countries, was at one point or another deemed a criminal offence, and used to force people into labour. We refer the reader to the Behind the Bastards episode: The War On Vagrants (Part One) for more about this.

3.6 On seeking community in all the wrong places

It is ultimately community that will keep us safe. But, community has been commodified in our neoliberal hellscape, and parasitic ideologies prey on the lonely. We went into a bit of a rabbit hole into incel ideology. We won’t share links here. There is nothing to learn there. Instead, we can build community :)